Many Spaniards knew something was going to happen with Puigdemont, and those doubts were confirmed yesterday morning, in a nearly comic turn of events.
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It was known that something was going on since Friday, and some people were already joking about putting Puigdemont in prison, “just in case”. Ironically, yesterday morning, it was discovered that Puigdemont and 5 Catalonian ex-advisers had fled to… Brussels.
Little is known about the case. The Belgian state secretary, Theo Francken, had told Puigdemont to consider Belgium as a possible destination for political asylum, before being forced to rectify his words by the Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel.
Theo Francken is part of the Flemish party N-VA, party which wants the independence of the Flemish region of Belgium.
Officially, Puigdemont didn’t meet any Belgian ministers.
The current situation puts the relationship between Spain and Belgium in a difficult position. If Belgium accepts the potential political asylum demand of Puigdemont, it would be acknowledging that it doesn’t trust its partner.
Yesterday too, the prosecutor presented a complaint to the National Court and the Supreme Court. This complaint concerns Puigdemont, as well as other members of the ex-Catalonian government, who are accused of rebellion, misuse of public funds and sedition.
More on this subject:
- Catalonia declares independence just to be suspended by Spanish government hours later (28/10/2017)
- Puigdemont decides to back down (26/10/2017)
- The Spanish Constitutional nullifies the law of the Catalonian referendum (22/10/2017)
- Spanish Government applies article 155 (21/10/2017)
- Spanish Government to apply article 155 Saturday (20/10/2017)
- Catalonians’ bullshit (20/10/2017)
- Spanish Government tries to avoid applying last measure (Article 155) (19/10/2017)
- Catalonia asks for more time to answer the Government (18/10/2017)
- Spanish government to take control of Catalonia depending on Puigdemont’s reply (15/10/2017)
